Funny man Greg Proops is heading our way soon to "poison everyone with my opinions". He talks to Barney McDonald about the importance of laughter in bad times.
Looking every bit a Bond villain, replete with rapier sharp wit, American comedian Greg Proops won over audiences with his antics in TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Enjoying success in the American and English versions of the show and engaging fans as far afield as New Zealand, Proops excels as a stand-up comedian, using the comparatively uncensored medium to challenge and undermine everything he disapproves of in our topsy-turvy world.
With his trademark black-rimmed glasses, dandyish hair and predilection for exquisite tailoring, he presents a dapper figure, like a throwback to Cool Britannia and Sean Connery-era Bond baddies, a comparison he'd surely approve of. It also stokes the fires of speculation that he may be gay, especially on the internet, where debate rages despite little hard evidence.
"If people wanna think I'm gay, let them think I'm gay," Proops counters from his home in glamorous Tinseltown. "I've been married for 20 years and been with my wife for 25 years. The problem with being gay is it interferes with being married.
"I guess because I have a vocabulary and dress well and I'm naughty, to a lot of unreconstructed Neanderthals that makes me gay," he continues. "I'm from San Francisco and I loved Elizabeth Taylor, so I'm not making a huge case for my defence."
More importantly, 51-year-old Proops is determined to use his talents as a stand-up to make people question what is said and done around them, whether by politicians, broadcasters, celebrities or friends, not to mention multinational corporations and anyone else with questionable authority or morals.
"I think, with how crazy the world is now, being funny is probably the most important thing," he insists. "Poisoning everyone with my opinions is always delightful."
On the eve of his first visit to New Zealand since the 2004 International Comedy Festival, Proops insists his stand-up persona is a fair representation of who he is. "You're certainly going to get where I'm coming from and how I feel," he says. "The late [stand-up comedian and social critic] Bill Hicks once said, 'Less jokes, more me'. Lenny Bruce said, 'I'm not a comic, I'm Lenny Bruce'. The goal is to reveal yourself as much as possible while still having a persona and a facade.
"I wanna say what I feel but you have to exaggerate everything to make it hilariously good," he expands. "At least that's how I do it. I don't talk about my own life very much and I'm not very confessional. So I have to find other artful ways to get that out."
The challenge for stand-ups of Proops' ilk is to entertain the audience by exposing the line between good and bad taste, funny and downright distasteful. It's a sharp edge of the sword that comics traverse on stage as they channel a stream of consciousness that can sometimes implode and descend into an angry tirade, as witnessed by an audience at a stand-up performance by Seinfeld actor Michael "Kramer" Richards a few years ago.
Unsurprisingly, Proops has plenty to say about Richards' meltdown on stage after being heckled by a handful of the audience.
"Have I gone that far? Have I got that mad? Yes. I've called the audience every name in the world and I'm so glad it wasn't on tape. I'm so glad no one put it on YouTube for it to go global. I've told the audience I'd rather we all die than my set not go well. I've got a big ego and if the crowd's not laughing every minute sometimes I get on their ass and say, 'I don't care how much it hurts for you people, I'm gonna get what I need tonight'," he laughs.
In light of the many natural disasters in the world, does Proops think earthquakes and tsunamis are forbidden zones for a comic to visit?
"Oh well, anything you can make funny is a go-zone," he says. "If I could make it funny then I would. But right off the bat, no, probably not. For me, it's simply a matter of humour. I'm guided by taste but I'm not overruled by it."
Does the craziness in the world make his job easier or harder then?
"I wish I knew the answer. I think in some ways it makes it easier because people are desperate to have a laugh so they're out for a reason.
"A couple of weeks ago, after the tsunami hit Japan, I did a show. Everyone I know had been drinking all weekend, watching the news, crying. I got up in front of the crowd and said, 'Thank you for coming to the last comedy show on Earth'. They had to laugh."
Greg Proops will play Hamilton's Clarence Street Theatre on April 30, Hastings' Hawke's Bay Opera House on May 5, Wellington's Opera House on May 6, and Auckland's SkyCity Theatre on May 7.
